A multidisciplinary design project for an introduction to engineering course

There is a great need for design projects that are suitable for freshman engineering students and that serve to introduce them to real-world engineering design work. In addition, modern engineering is increasing multidisciplinary and it is important to introduce students to this as early as possible. This paper describes a project that spans the disciplines of Industrial Engineering and Computer Science. It is a complete module that is structured on a formal engineering design process. It makes use of low-cost materials and software and attempts to give the students an enjoyable and rewarding experience. The project has been used at Arizona State University for over two years and has been well received by the students.